Shishmaref

From OpenContent Curriculum

Shishmaref is a small island. There are about 650-700 people that live in this town. Most of the houses aren’t spread around, they're mostly close together. There are two stores and there names are Native store and Nayokpuk general store. There is one small store and it is called Almo’s. There is also a new airport and an old airport. The Lutheran church is in the middle of the town.

Shishmaref sounds loud. It is loud from all the four-wheelers and snow-machines riding around. A lot of kids holler too. You can also hear people listening to music on their stereo when you’re walking. You can hear basketball’s bouncing when they’re shooting around.

How does Shishmaref smell? Well it depends on what people cook or dump. When you are outside someone’s house when they’re cooking you can smell food. When you are by the new airport, it smells stink because of the dump. Behind the old airport you can smell like fresh air.

How does Shishmaref feel? The sand that is on the ground feels rough. When you touch a building it feels rough too because there is lumps on the wood. The water down beach feels cold.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 562 people, 142 households, and 110 families residing in the city. The population density was 78.1/km² (202.0/mi²). There were 148 housing units at an average density of 20.6/km² (53.2/mi²).

The racial makeup of the city was 5.34% White, 93.24% Native American (mainly Inupiat), and 1.42% from two or more races. 0.53% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 142 households out of which 52.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.6% were married couples living together, 19.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.5% were non-families. 21.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.96 and the average family size was 4.59.

In the city the population was spread out with 40.9% under the age of 18, 11.4% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 12.6% from 45 to 64, and 5.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 24 years. For every 100 females there were 125.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 121.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $30,714, and the median income for a family was $29,306. Males had a median income of $35,357 versus $25,000 for females. The per capita income for the city was $10,487. About 16.2% of families and 16.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.2% of those under age 18 and 10.5% of those age 65 or over.

Leaders

School

Feel free to look at the Shishmaref School page of this wiki. It is found at Shishmaref_School.

Relocation

Shishmaref is currently located on Sarichef Island in the Chukchi Sea, just north of the Bering Strait and five miles from the mainland. It is part of the Nome Census Area and located within the Bering Land Bridge National Reserve. It's coordinates are: 66°15′20″N, 166°4′20″W (66.255586, -166.072305).

On December 12, 2006 the city officially approved the proposal to relocate Shishmaref to Tin Creek.